Bullock adopted now-8-year-old Louis in 2010, when he was about 3 months old. She later adopted Laila, now age 5, when the little girl was 3 years old. Ever since she became a mother, Bullock’s life has revolved around her family, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“My priorities are my kids, my kids, my kids,” the actress told Kotb.

Despite not becoming a mother until she was 45 years old, Bullock always knew that she wanted to be a mom.

“Being a mom, I finally realize, ‘Oh this is what I was supposed to do when I grew up,'” she said. “This is my purpose, and I knew it at a very young age … I felt that calling at a very young age, but I had to become the mom that I was supposed to be for the kids that were waiting for me.”

Becoming A Mom

Bullock’s a firm believer that there’s no “right way” to become a mother. The adoption process wasn’t an easy one for her — or short, since it took about four years — but it was certainly worth it.

“The beautiful thing that I was constantly told was, ‘The perfect child will find you. You will find your child,'” Bullock said. “But you don’t believe that when it’s not happening, when you’re going, ‘Where is my family?’ When it does happen, you know exactly what they’re talking about.”

“Let’s all just refer to these kids as ‘our kids.’ Don’t say ‘my adopted child,'”she told InStyle. “No one calls their kid their ‘IVF child’ or their ‘oh, sh**, I went to a bar and got knocked-up child.’ Let just say, ‘our children.'”

The actress seems to protect her privacy and is rarely photographed with her children, but when she is, it’s absolutely adorable, as you can see in this tweet from AOL Lifestyle:

Inspiring Others

Bullock is hopeful that this inclusive way of thinking will inspire families of all shapes and sizes.

“It’s amazing to me how we can take away people’s happiness by telling them, ‘This is the box you have to stay in.’ There is no box,” she explained about motherhood.

And, she’s already inspired Kotb to adopt a child. Kotb told Bullock that it wasn’t until after Bullock adopted Louis that she herself considered adoption. Kotb added a baby girl, Haley Joy, to her family in 2017.

“I hope me telling my story lets people know that there is no end game,” Bullock replied. “There are hundreds of thousands of children that are ready to be your child. You’re a forever parent the minute you accept the love of that child.”